Sew a Simple Chic Crossbody Purse

There is something so very special about drawings made by a child.

This month, as part of our monthly series, I wanted to take my daughter’s art into a whole new realm. I simply asked her to draw a very specific thing: the tooth fairy. Imagine her delight when I announced we’d be taking a shopping trip to the craft store to pick out materials to turn her drawing into something tangible and useful. That’s right! I helped her re-create her drawing into a 3D piece of art that is completely functional. It turns out we were able to put this to use within a few days as my youngest daughter lost another tooth. Perfect timing!

This is also a project you can create just from my instructions and is the perfect solution for those children who might have a fear of the Tooth Fairy reaching under their pillow while they are sleeping. This sweet, lightweight doll hangs on their doorknob and has a felt, heart-shaped pocket for the tooth-money exchange to take place.

As mentioned, I first asked my daughter to draw her idea of what the Tooth Fairy looks like and color it with her favorite colors. Once she was done, we went shopping for simple supplies, like felt, fabric, buttons, embroidery floss and an embroidery needle.

Once back home we went through my supply of tools to find a shape that would work for the head, wings and heart-shaped pocket. The other items would be cut freehand. Punch a circle from cardstock using the XX Large Circle Lever Punch. Trace the circle onto flesh-colored felt using a pencil. Be sure to leave a 1” section untraced at the bottom of the circle for the neck. Repeat a second time. Stitch two button eyes and blushed cheeks onto one piece of felt. Hand-stitch smile using embroidery floss. Then layer the two pieces together and stitch around the perimeter with your sewing machine.

Use that same circle template to trace a half-circle onto felt to create the bangs of the hair. Freehand an oblong egg shape for the back of the hair that is approximately ¼” wider than the head all the way around.

Sandwich the face layers between the two hair layers, and hand-stitch the hair detail to the bangs piece, leaving a gap at the top to later stitch in the ribbon to create a hanger for the door.

Cut eight skinny pieces, each approximately 3” long to create the layers for two arms and two legs. Sandwich two pieces together, round one end and then machine-stitch them together around the perimeter. Repeat four times to make a pair of arms and a pair of legs. Fold your material, wrong sides together to cut a dress shape. Create a notch at the neck to make the dress a v-neck. Pin the arms, legs and head between the two layers. Stitch all the way around the perimeter.

Use the Fuse Creativity System(R) along with the Scalloped Oval Medium Design Set to cut two pieces of felt for the Tooth Fairy’s wings.

Layer the pieces one on top of the other and make a horizontal cut to create a pair of wings. Hand-stitch the two layers together using a coordinating color of floss. Stuff in a small amount of polyfil just before you have the hand-stitched detail around the entire perimeter to help give some dimension to the wings. Hand-stitch wings to the back of the Tooth Fairy’s dress.

Fold a small piece of pink felt in half and hand cut a heart shape through both layers, so you end up with two exact pieces. Hand cut a tooth shape from white felt. Stitch the button and tooth to one heart layer. Then, layer the two hearts together and add hand-stitched detail, leaving the top of the heart open.

Fold the Tooth Fairy’s arms in toward her stomach and stitch her hands to the heart pocket. Add a ribbon hanger to the open space at the top of the Tooth Fairy’s head.